Well, we're off - and in an obvious attempt to secure the attentions of any channel-hopping viewers who might not, yet, have noticed Aidan Turner gracing the pages of every single British newspaper in the last week, the BBC give us the money shot right away!

You could almost hear the faint cheers of the Cornish Tourist Board in the background as our muscular, handsome hero strode, damp and delicious, from the swirling waters of a sea of a tender turquoise hue rarely seen outside of a Caribbean travel brochure.

*Sighing happily* - which was just as well really, as it turned out to be for the first and last time of this dark and disquieting episode.

Tortured by visions of dear Dem and pretty Hugh, our Ross set the tone with a bit of gazing sadly into space - there was a lot of that going around as Demelza and Prudie took up the challenge and stared even more sadly and for longer.

Mind you, I do think that Demelza, as a woman who apparently owns only two frocks, could do a bit less paddling in the sea while wearing one of them and gazing into space.

Such a lot happened in one short hour, forgive me if I miss anything out.

So. we had the return of Zacky Martin's previously unknown son swiftly followed by his demise due to the machinations of Evil George, who, somehow, has managed to perfect an even more superior facial expression which makes me want to hit him in the kisser, repeatedly, with a brick!

In a daring departure from the books, the series adaptor also decided to place Drippy Drake and Preacher Sam on the 'To be Hanged Unfairly' list - my hopes soared, but, alas, thanks to an impassioned speech by Ross at the foot of the scaffold, they were reprieved.

Rats - this probably means the return of the Carne Family Singers at some point, more Morwenna mooning from Drippy Drake and more of Preacher Sam pontificating on and boring the locals to death!

In other news, Laudanum Liz seems to have cowed Evil George on the domestic front - well, she thinks she has, but that's mostly because he lies through his teeth to her while pretending that the dark, curly-haired moppet at her side bears no resemblance at all to his hated enemy.

Dear Aunt Agatha finally got her gravestone at a rather tense little dedication and blessing presided over by Oily Osbourne and attended by both warring factions, and, of course, Drippy Drake peeping round the corner of the church at the object of his devotion.

Oily O also presided at the hanging, a prospect which seemed to give him much pleasure, which is just as well since he's getting none at home! Morwenna must bless her sister twenty times a day for the stunt she pulled on the lecherous so-and-so.

Pretty Hugh isn't so much lecherous as persistent, but now he's failing fast, and while I'm sure Demelza isn't exactly pleased, she'll not be sorry to have an end to the stream of sentimental poetry!

Delicious Drake isn't lecherous at all, but seems to have formed more of a bond with Horace than Caroline - he looked more than a bit surprised when she told him she was enceinte!

Finally, Ross told Demelza what we've all been longing to hear him say - that he loves her above all others. Isn't that lovely - Oh wait - in almost the next breath he's going to leave again her by standing as MP and buzzing off to London!

Oh, Rawws!

An excellent episode, but busy and sometimes felt more than a bit rushed, let's hope it settles next week!

Chris, Demelza did wear a different outfit for Agatha's dedication, but if she is to be a politician's wife, Ross is going to have to get her another one! That ol' green one hasn't even got a hole in it!!

This is utter tosh but wonderfully entertaining tosh - I just wish they would give drippy Ross and Demelza the elbow and concentrate on the fabulous Reverend Osbourne Whitworth instead. More toe sucking - poor Christian Brassington - there are some things an actor really shouldn't have to be called on to have to do!

He's just so awful! he's so worth watching - and a it's a great bit of acting!

I could cheerfully chuck the Carne brothers off a cliff because they are so drippy. Elizabeth's drippy. Hugh was ridiculously drippy so I'm pleased he's gone. The good doctor is almost non-existent and I've never really taken to Ross, either in this version or the first one.

I know Cornwall was (and still is) miles away from anywhere, but surely Elizabeth and Caroline must have seen some magazines, subscribed to a circulating library or been given a Lady's Keepsake as a gift and noticed what the fashion was in 1796? Why does no one mention the war that is financially crippling the country? Why does the Truro coach make a detour along the cliff edge to pick Ross up?

I've not read the books, so I don't know if, when he got to parliament, Ross stood up to speak about slavery and children in factories, or if this is just the BBC general bias of the moment taking over the story like it takes over everything else. I suspect they spent most of their time talking about how to raise taxes to pay for huge hole in the country's finances because of the war with France. None of the little indirect taxes were working - tax windows and people just brick them up, tax hair powder and the fashions change to natural hair in its natural colour so Pitt is just about to introduce the 'temporary' measure of income tax to tide the nation over until times improve .....

I still love Ossie - but then I suppose I spend a lot of time in the world of the Georgian clergy, where, for many it was really simply a career from which you hoped to make money, and being a pluralist with more that one parish, was what many would hope to become. Two or three small parishes would give you a decent income and you paid a curate either a small stipend or per service to do all the work for you and, with luck, you never had to go near the place yourself. There were plenty like Ossie - and many of them probably had equally as repellent private lives!

It's 10 minutes later tonight because there's dratted football on yet again

For anyone who missed it, they repeated the documentary on the first version last week https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...ight-3-poldark Richard Morant was absolutely gorgeous as Dwight Enys in the first version. He never did enough telly and it's now nearly 7 years since he died

I'm very sorry that the Rev Whitworth has met his end - he was an utterly revolting character beautifully played. I hope Christian Brassington gets some decent roles after this because he's a good actor.

We are getting a bit fed up with Demelza and the Carne brothers. When Drake's smithy got burnt to the ground and he was picking through the remains, I heard a voice from the other end of the sofa say "He's probably looking for that little bit of metal that he's continually hammering pointlessly away on"